Outgoing Telstra CEO David Thodey has said the biggest challenge in his six years at the helm of Australia's largest telecommunications company was improving the relationship between Telstra and the government before signing the NBN deal.

Traditional wisdom would have it that any cuts to company R&D tax breaks could hamper innovation, yet the Australian government's latest move to cap domestic R&D incentives may in fact help drive the development of new technology in the country.

The Australian prime minister and the Australian Federal Police have urged the quick passage of the mandatory data-retention Bill, explaining that it will not be a financial burden for telcos and will assist with criminal investigations.

Telstra has opened its Customer Insights Centre (CIC) in Sydney for enterprise and business clients, with the high-tech 3,600 square metre facility boasting a 300-person auditorium, a workshop, collaboration spaces, partner pop-up installations, a restaurant, and a broadcast studio.

Today's Annual General Meeting marked an historic day for Telstra as shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favour of the $11 billion deal with the National Broadband Network Company. ZDNet Australia was there to catch all the action.

It's been 30 years since the first mobile phone call was made on Telstra's network, then called Telecom Australia, without the assistance of an operator. The phones were tied down to a car and cost a fortune to own, but they set the foundation for today's cellular network. Here's how they used to build them.

IBM yesterday celebrated its 100th birthday in Sydney, bringing together five ex-managing directors &mdash; including Telstra CEO David Thodey &mdash; as well as current managing director Andrew Stevens. The six IT powerbrokers sat on a panel and waxed lyrical about what had changed over the 100 years since IBM started out selling cheese measurement equipment.

After a week of big announcements stemming from its Investor Day events, Telstra invited ZDNet Australia into its Experience Centre in Sydney, to show us what's next for the telco, and how its products can be put into practice for Aussie small to medium businesses.

Telstra has not been separated and construction of the NBN on the mainland is still in the pipeline, but today saw Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd kick off a conference that was designed to help Australia understand how 100 megabits per second broadband can be used.

Telstra today gave some insight into the logistics of what needs to be done in order to build a national broadband network over the next five years &mdash; we also had a peek into one of the company's nodes.

The Australian Rail Track Association (ARTC) is set to finish the proof-of-concept phase and sign off on the business case for an ambitious project to digitise Australia's train-signal network using Telstra's Next G network as its transmission backbone.

Just seven customers had been connected to the National Broadband Network (NBN) trial services in Armidale ahead of the official launch with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.

Optus has threatened to withdraw support for the Federal Government's National Broadband Network legislation unless further amendments over level playing field provisions are made this week, CEO Paul O'Sullivan has said.

Smartphone sales were a major factor in Telstra adding 1 million new mobile customers in the first half of this financial year, with over 690,000 iPhone and Android devices sold, CEO David Thodey revealed today.

NBN Co has not yet delivered its business case to the Federal Government, despite having previously said it would be handed over by 31 May, the group's chief executive Mike Quigley confirmed this week.

What do Telstra shareholders think of the telco's new CEO David Thodey? And would they support the government's plan to separate Telstra? ZDNet.com.au asked shareholders these questions at the company's annual general meeting this week.

Why did Telstra recently shut down its Now We Are Talking website? The problem, according to Telstra chief executive David Thodey, was that "the other guy left it running" and everyone had got sore throats from talking too much.

NetComm Turbo 7 Series Wireless Gateway provides an easy set-up, good coverage and modest speed. While this system gives you the advantage of portable wireless gateway, wireless services are less reliable and cannot match ADSL2 speeds.

The i-mate Ultimate 9502 is the larger sibling of the i-mate 8502, and shares the honour of being Australia's first HSUPA phone. While we believe this phone is in the same league as a BlackBerry or the iPhone, be wary of Telstra's promised internet speeds.

Telstra's wireless service is for Australian road warriors who don't mind paying big bucks for maximum mobility.According to the Telstra, its existing CDMA network covers about one-fifth of the Australian landmass and over 98 percent of the population.